Tasked with building a product that meets an overlooked consumer demand, Metropolitan State University design student Leah Rich thought of her dad. Felled by a stroke eight years ago, her father has recovered enough to walk on his own, but he needs to stop often for brief rests. He is mobile enough that he doesn’t need a wheelchair, but he needs more than a cane.

“There’s a big gap in that market,” said the 30-year old student who designed a three-wheeled scooter aimed at aging baby boomers with limited mobility for her senior design class. She called it “The Strike.”

A panel of judges — accomplished designers and professors who ranked the projects based on design and market feasibility — selected Rich’s Strike in a “Shark Tank”-type competition on Wednesday. Students pitched their designs and marketing plans and projected consumer interest.

From rooftop fly-fishing rod carriers and a hot water weed killer to customizable sleeping bags and wire-lined gloves that keep hands warmer, students worked to sell designs they had spent months developing.

The project mixed entrepreneurial spirit with design skills, said professor Michael Caston, who assigned the project before the summer so students could have time to identify a need and plan prototypes.

On Wednesday, the seniors gathered and pitched their plans. There were the gloves lined with a breathable, water-resistant membrane and nanowire fabric, which retains body heat. One student designed a PVC-lined shin and ankle guard for infield softball players after he was injured by a ball. Another designed a sleeping bag with a built-in pad, while a fellow student built an environmentally friendly sleeping bag shell that allows users to adjust the level of insulation by stuffing it with plastic grocery bags.

Natalie Greenberg built a weed killer that uses hot water heated by electro-magnetic induction. Duke Blend designed a fashionable scarf for a friend with upper respiratory problems heading to a new job in a pollution-choked Chinese city.

Metro State marketing professor and panel judge Darrin Duber-Smith urged Blend to expand his product for other users, like the military, ranchers, Muslims and maybe even the ill who don’t want to spread germs.

“Remember the sticky note was an accident,” Duber-Smith said. “Keep in mind the element of unintentional design.”

The judges ultimately selected Rich’s collapsible, lightweight scooter as the top design. Rich said she hopes to build a working prototype made with lightweight aluminum and capable of folding into a car trunk that could sell for around $300.

“There’s a huge market out there for this,” Rich said. “I’m surprised existing companies haven’t come up with something like this already. This could enable people to do all those things they are almost able to do.”

Judge Cheryl Caston told the students to think beyond grades and semester-long classes when pondering the future of their designs. With her husband, Michael Caston, she runs a design firm, Camic Designs, that she created nine years ago as a graduate student.

“I wish I had a project like this when I was in school,” she said. “I would encourage everyone to think longer term with their projects.”

Jason Blevins covers tourism, mountain business, skiing and outdoor adventure sports for both the business and sports sections at The Denver Post, which he joined in 1997. He skis, pedals, paddles and occasionally boogies in the hills and is just as inspired by the lively entrepreneurial spirit that permeates Colorado's high country communities as he is by the views.